The Blossoming Moonlight part I: Beyond The Storm
by Ryuu Shey
Summary: What will happen to the Alice Academy childhood friends, after the unexpected meeting with the strange person named 'The Shadow'
1. The Blossoming Moonlight

**"** **The Blossoming Moonlight: Beyond the Storm** **"**

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 **SUMMARY**

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 **What will happen to the Alice Academy childhood friends after the unexpected meeting with the strange person named** ' **The Shadow?** '

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I'm going out of the original Manga that means I've mixed two generations together because I wanted to include all my favorite characters here. If you're a fan of the old students of the Academy, this will be a better place where you can meet Narumi and Shiki, so if you cannot find this interesting, just leave it here.

I created a new character. This fan-fiction isn't all about the OC, but it has an important part of the entire story. I had to make another few characters as well. However, as I said before, I've mentioned everyone, according to the structure.

This's one of my imaginations, but forgive me if something wrong with my writing, still I'm not good enough to write. Hope you can understand, and after all, I'm not writing for everyone, but for someone who can be happy with everything around the tale, so let me know your thoughts.

Thank you for reading my story.


	2. 1

**CHAPTER I**

He seemed to have pale. It might appear because of the faded paper that he was looking at that time.

 _'I think about your smile,_

 _w_ _hen I wake up from the loneliness of the night_

 _Like the old memories leave_ _,_

 _w_ _hen another blossoming season arrives_

 _With a painful hope which you left behind_ _,_

 _after an incomplete story, that we had – a long time ago.'_

At the end of the last phrase, the depression stood up while making him sitting on the carpet. The paper squeezed inside his almost curved fingers. He felt hard to breathe, and he could not help himself to stop the flashback that was coming to his view.

...

 **(six years ago)**

It became a day in summer - the season of fireworks, where the night sky displayed so colorful, but it was never being the same inside the Alice Academy.

A few hours after the sun rose, the students were beginning to get tired of sitting in their class, middle division's class-B, and of having nothing to do. They were all acting very sleepy and stupid when their homeroom teacher Makihira came into the class for the second time of the day.

"Pay your attention to me for a while. This is-" he stopped. There was no point of talking to those students who had their own works other than listening to him.

"-guys, we have a newcomer here-" even though he knew how to take the attention of his class after dealing with them nearly five years, as everyone turned to Makihira for a moment, and they found a girl behind him. She had an exotic look with her braided raven hair.

"-this is your new classmate Akeshiya Rei. Tobita... Tell her about our rules-" he said, turning to the blonde haired president of the class, and had taken a file out of his book bundle to give Yuu Tobita, detaining the students' attention on the girl named Rei.

The boy accepted it very readily still looking at her, along with the others in his class. There were not so many at that time. Half of them had to go out for their individual activities, but when she was coming to that place, she had to get a feeling of being a celebrity for a few minutes without having any desire to be.

"-Rei, your partner will be Ruka. It says that you two have to work together in upcoming days, so you can sit near him-" Makihira looked at his new student who had a kind of frown on her face. She was staring at the floor without having a word. It was enough to him, to understand her attitude at the first place.

"-well everyone, please be nice to her. Have a nice day!" He made his way out of the class, finally getting Rei's soft understanding look.

Rei looked around the class for the boy named Ruka. She felt the whole partner thing as an excellent concept, and she would have to be right if that one was a better Alice user, though she was disturbed by a crowd of her classmates.

(class-B students)

"My name is Anna, you can sit with us if you want, and why do you look so different?"

"What's your Alice? I wonder what they've brought this time. I'm Sumire by the way,"

"When you come to know about your partner, you can ask me anything rather than him, and call me Yome,"

"Hey, what's going on you? Something is blocking my way of reading your mind,"

"Koko, leave her alone for now. They'll take care of her,"

Many of them said so many things which included good and bad. Rei felt it as an absurd. She tried not to say anything without having the right answers to those unremitting questions, and then they all crowded around her once more with the intention of making her speak somehow or another.

"Rei,"

She heard another different voice behind her that was not owned by them. It became the only one answer when she rummaged her mind in a lazy manner. Rei dared to turn back to recognize the blonde haired president of her class. 'He looks innocent,' and she thought like that because the boy bothered to smile at her.

"I'm sorry, you can't sit near Ruka after they come back," as she thought, his kind words came out on behalf of her.

"May I know about them?" Rei asked patiently, rather obediently still having the same problem around her with the crowd of students.

"His friends, don't worry about them. It's just the place, we all have a signature row and a seat in our class. That's why I told you, you can sit with Yome. It'll be good to avoid unwanted problems with your seniors," he added as an explanation, and gave her the student record book with her new Alice Academy ID card.

"Thank you! Then, who's Ruka?" Rei asked the main question as everyone extended their hands to the last row of the class where the boy named Ruka was sitting. Rei noticed this one since the moment when she came in the class. He seemed charm, but he did not bother to raise his head to look at them, and a little rabbit ran away from his lap by the students' behavior.

"What is your Alice?" She heard Tobita through her thoughtful observation.

"The Plant Growing," she managed to answer before she gets an extra attention. Her eyes tried to run away from the thing she said. It might be a lie, only she knew what it was, and the rest of them waited in silence for a while until the green haired girl named Sumire broke it.

"Wow…! You gotta be kidding? Don't dare you tell that you're gonna work with him, do you?" She said before Tobita could speak. There was no more sugar-coated words to hear. It became a threat for no reason. Rei did not even know the other Plant Growing Alice user, but that one must be a boy because she knew, when it comes to the girls like this, there is nothing more important than males.

Tobita had to stop Sumire before it turned it to an argument, and asked all of them to leave Rei alone there for a while. The both Rei and Tobita slowly walked to the last row. He explained all the necessary things to her except the nature of her partner Ruka. He was also sitting next to them, even though he did not want to look at them or talk with them. He did his work on his own.

The boring period ended after the bell of the interval time. Rei waited in the front corridor of class-B, with no one to talk with, and after having her launch, there was nowhere to go. That gained the attention of some boys of the other class. They came to her with some unwanted jokes. It was all because of her new membership. Rei thought of avoiding them, neither talk to them nor look at them. They had melted away from her after a few minutes, coming to a vision of another boy of the class-A.

"Hey, how are you doing?" He asked, waving his hand to take Rei back to reality from her dream world.

"Ah, it's you," his appearance brought a thin smile to her lips. "Is everything alright? I was looking at you since the time you came here. You have waited alone, don't you have a friend yet?" He smirked at the twinkle in her eyes when he talked with her. "Yeah, everything goes as usual and… No friends, only a partner named Ruka," she replied anxiously.

"Ruka, how funny? Tell me about his friends?" He raised his eyebrow at her when the smirk went away from him.

"Funny? You call him funny, huh? I was sitting next to him all last hour. I swear, I don't know what's going on in his mind, his charm look doesn't make any sense," explaining about her awkward daydream with Ruka, Rei was looking into his rare look, calling out in a confused way to know more. "I know, so what about the others…"

"Um... Yuu told me some things about his friends, but I don't know exactly where they are…" There was something questionable between their talk. 'The Academy,' she was unable to understand the right way of dealing with that strange place. It seemed like a mess, and it did not let her stay as the way she wanted.

"You have to be careful Rei, please avoid them. They're doing like us, if they come to know by any chance, it'll be a huge problem. I don't care whatever the reason is, don't dare you show yourself. Do you understand?" His displeased remark became nothing more than a dreadful puzzle.

"Shiki," she glanced at him.

"Alright, I'm sorry! Just remember one thing, we have to play hide and seek, but it's not a joke," he knew that she annoyed by his advises, though it was not a choice.

"What am I? An idiotic kid? You know Shiki, I can take care of this, but I've already acting like a dumb because of you, and you also know how much I hate this. Don't expect me to go ahead of you, I won't do that," she said, looking at something that was in the corner of the corridor.

"What is it?" Shiki was curious, though he felt lazy to look back without knowing what it was. "They're staring at us, perhaps it's me, I think," not giving them a chance to catch her words, she muttered because there were a few girls, and they were glaring at her.

"Ah that… If I'm a celebrity, they can be my dearest fangirls!" He smirked before whipped his hair like a famous Playboy, and he was, but not on the topic of girls. His brown hair that was a bit long and blue eyes tinged with gray, made him more admirable than the others. There was nothing to be surprised about his fans, everyone knew that especially the girls of the Academy.

"Huh fans, well I don't wanna be a hated one at my first day, I've got enough for today. See you later, little one. I should go now," Rei gave him a glance before walked back to her classroom. Shiki was looking at her way with a hidden smile, but she was not there to see it.

Rei had to go to the greenhouse when the next period arrived. She never wished to see something like that inside of the Academy until she went there. It was one of the most beautiful places, which she had ever seen in her life. The crystal walls had started a few meters away from the ground, so she did not get a chance to look inside without going there.

"Excuse me, may I come in?" She asked slowly, expecting any response, having a curious mind about the person who had the same Alice as hers. According to her mind, he would not be that much better than her classmates would, but she was afraid of something else – 'what will happen if he likes Ruka?' There was nothing to do about that other than managing the situation as she explained to Shiki.

"Yes," a response came out as a male voice. Rei tried to tell herself to be calm, and the soft wind brought her a very romantic aroma of the flowers of that Mirror Palace when she opened the door.

"Misaki?" There was a boy who was watering the plants, and she asked him as politely as she could.

"Yes," Rei confirmed about her ceaseless bad luck at that time. There was not any single emotion in his voice, but she found another thing about the Academy - 'this place is full of handsome boys,' since he was too much for his age. He had a naturally perfect body with his outdoor activities, and she took a while to understand it.

"I can come later if you're busy now," she looked around while collecting the right words to talk with him.

"No. Those are all yours. If you need something else, you can take them from that storeroom or ask me," before she could turn back, he pointed towards the left side of the greenhouse where there was a clean hall including a room, still watering the plants.

"Well. Thank you!" thinking whether that he will talk furthermore or not, Rei slowly walked to the other side of the main block, along with her hopeless mind, and took a long breath.

His self-sufficient soul did not let him look at her, at least for one time, and to know her name as well. She was right about him. He was nothing more than another Ruka. Rei felt pity for herself in comparison with both guys. One was her partner and the other one also had to be her partner in future days. The problem was their same qualities.

Rei spent all her time in the greenhouse until she shocked after seeing the clock. She has already been thirty minutes late for Jinno's Science period, and she had hesitated to go there. It was her first day, yet she had not had the courage to deal with the Academy and with the people.

"Excuse me, Sensei!"

Rei came into the classroom through the looks of numerous students and their hidden smiles. Her late arrival was nothing to smile or laugh, only the students like Tobita, Ruka, and Yome were using to know it. She noticed another new faces in the class, which included a few girls and boys. Misaki was also sitting next to Ruka, so she felt to punch because he had to let her know before he left her alone in the greenhouse.

"Sit," Jinno said dismissively, keeping his attention on the lesson.

"You, new girl, stand up. Tell me your excuse for being late for my period," Jinno asked Rei after the lesson. There were only ten minutes left for the end of the period, and he wanted to know something useless.

"I don't have a particular reason," said Rei, gave him a dull glance, and the same moment, she could take attention of the surprised students by her straight answer. She was still a new member to the Academy, and that man is not like the others. Many of them had a kind of nervous feeling about him, including some teachers. For a moment, no one said a word, as they kept watching at their teacher and their new classmate.

"Don't you know about our rules? Today is your first day, but now you're a student, you have to respect the Academy rules. Do you understand? I see… Who is your partner? When you do something wrong, your partner will be punished," Jinno got a senseless clemency for that girl for some reason. He had considered every Alice owner to be different from the others, almost inside of the Academy. Somehow or other there were only a few students who had that quality, especially in the midst of the girls until he met this one.

"Sensei," Ruka stood up with a sign of a wild beast.

"Oh, Nogi… You know the rules very well. Meet me at the staff room," Jinno ordered one of his favorite students who never had a negative attitude. His inner thinking appearance admitted both Ruka and Rei as a good pair of Alice users, but it will not effect on his punishment.

"Sensei, may I say something?" Rei's interrupting voice echoed around in the silence. Jinno and Ruka looked at her at the same time, along with the other students.

"Punish me, I ignored him," she lied without having any interest to be punished, reminded by Shiki's words. He asked her not to get on with those boys. The both of them knew it was going to break one day, but not in a hurry.

Rei was looking at their teacher's face for an answer as the students gasped. It was not the first time they saw a student like her, but not in the very first day of the Academy. Jinno nodded before he left the class. He did not want to waste his time on the same place, even though he had satisfied with her right-minded works.

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Akeshiya Rei - protagonist OC

Thank you for reading.


	3. 2

**CHAPTER II**

The morning sunlight was streaming from the crystal glasses of the greenhouse. Rei was researching the plants along with Misaki. He turned into a different person than the first day when time passed. It caused to make her mind, to work together with him since he was not as bad as she imagined, completely unlike his friend Ruka.

"Is this Saffron?" Rei stopped near the little plant which had a purple colored flower.

Misaki nodded to say 'yes,' and she recognized the liveliness that filled his dark brown eyes. It said something beautiful about his feelings for those plants. "It needs protection, and it's not about if it can or it can't, we can make it happen," Misaki had a friendlier attitude than the other members of her class. She looked again at the little plant that could make her happy after all, before she walked ahead with him.

"It's my next exam project," she heard him again.

"Exam project?" Rei muttered once more. It became an unexpected thing at that time. It was almost two days since she came there, but now there was a project except the hard examination.

"Weren't you told about it? It's imperative, you have to choose something valuable, don't forget your non-star rank," he picked off some dry leaves of a Bonsai plant after walking a few steps away from Rei.

"You've already won with these flowers, and yeah, I know. I have to get one. It's rough to live like this. I have nothing, neither honor nor respect," Misaki stooped to look at her carefully by the last few solemn words of her answer, and then signaled her to follow behind him to the other side.

They were at the greenhouse the entire morning. That peaceful place always reminded Rei's home where there were so many Sakura blossoms. That was the reason for her love for the greenhouse with her undefined thoughts, but Misaki was not close enough to understand her feelings. Rei's first day at the Alice Academy had ended up badly because of the same place, even though she had used to love those works more than everything.

At that moment, the calm nature was disturbed by a stranger. Rei realized that the shadow was not Misaki, and she knew how he reacts when someone come into the greenhouse without his permission or hers, since now she was also a part of that place.

"Are you planning to steal or..."

Rei asked, coming behind from that person with her suspicious feeling. The white colored hoodie did not give her a chance to recognize whether it was a girl or a boy.

"What?" This time, the stranger turned to her while putting off his hoodie, and she recognized that it was a boy after seeing him. The thief had a beauty mark under his left eye, but not quite accomplished; she felt those emerald eyes were smirking at her, and making her right again, the one who she had suspected as a thief, had a gorgeous look to compare with both her classmates Ruka and Misaki. He also looked a bit similar to Shiki.

"You think of me like that?" His soft voice came out very carefully. It became another most awkward moment in her life. He seemed so innocent to her eyes, but not to her mind. Rei did not have any idea about those strange students of the Academy, not even about her classmates. She took a few seconds to find something to say. "No, I, umm… No, but yes I didn't see you coming," she got a weird stammer.

The sparkle in his eyes was frozen by her words, almost with his innocent facial expressions.

Rei was staring at him without having a perception, thinking whether he was a thief or not. He also had a confused look on his face because of the girl who was standing in front of him. He felt curious about both her Alice and her new look because it was the first time he saw her inside of the Academy. It caused to a dead silence except the rustle of the trees.

"What's going on here? Narumi, not again…" The both of them turned their heads to look at the door where they heard Misaki's rough voice. It was the first time Rei saw his angry face.

A thin smirk appeared on the boy named Narumi's lips by his sudden appearance. "We came back last night. I'm here to see you," he nodded carefully at Misaki, but Rei was unable to understand their hidden conversation in front of her.

"He's not-" Rei's whispering voice came out suddenly, and when she noticed Narumi's glaring eyes, she went on, "-perhaps,"

"It's okay Rei, this's one of my best friends, Narumi," Misaki gave her an unexpected answer. She went cold to accept him as a friend of his, because she felt his evil aura more than Misaki's other friend Ruka. Narumi always had a careless look on his face for some unknown reason, and it could cause her to be unable to think clearly, although if she knew about their long-term friendship, she would never have said that in front of him, and she felt that Misaki would be wrong about his friend in this case.

"I'm sorry, excuse me," Rei did not dare to dump the part of introducing herself back to the stranger, as she walked away from the boys. That was really uncomfortable to someone like her. Her non-star rank had also reduced her worth in so many different ways, and so the Academy itself.

"You have a new girl, who's she?" Narumi asked while looking around the greenhouse. He was up to something at that time - not with Misaki, but with his foxy mind.

"Shut up man, I can't say this again: do not let me catch you in my greenhouse, now leave… Don't say that I didn't say," Misaki's words seemed like a threat, and his friend went silent for a second.

"Keeping in mind that I replied to you," Narumi responded in queerly, and walked away from that place, after putting something into his pants pockets.

Both Misaki and Narumi had a very close friendship until it came to the greenhouse. Narumi was something that could not be controlled without his own willingness, though sometimes he used to listen to his friends if there were not any other choices left. He was one of the most careless and stubborn people who was living on the Academy grounds, and Misaki was unable to catch the theft since Narumi almost left the place with those Bean seeds before Misaki could understand it.

"Do not let him in," Misaki came back to Rei who was already doing her work inside of her block. "Why's that?" She removed her hand gloves to wash her hands. It was already the interval time as she thought of going back to the hostel to have her lunch.

"You know Rei, the best fish always swim near the bottom. Be careful with him," he smiled at her for the first time, and it had a light that made the blind see. "I'm glad to hear that," she ended up it as a good thing. Rei packed her bag, and came out of her block with him.

"Don't expect him to be nice to you," Misaki warned to her knowing every cruel incident that happened in the Academy, because of his cold-blooded friend. "I won't," she replied before he grabbed her bag with his smirking face. Then he went to the greenhouse restroom where there was a little kitchen, which had all the types of kitchen equipment and ingredients.

"You're gonna make our lunch," not giving her a chance to say 'no,' he said as the first step of a new friendship. Misaki was finally able to get a girl as a friend that he never had, and the life he used to spend alone in the greenhouse ended like that. Rei also expected him to be like his friends until he asked her to make their lunch. They enjoyed it a lot, and it became an unforgettable moment in their lives.

Rei and Misaki came to the classroom to get ready for the next period, without wasting the whole interval time to eat. Their classmates were shouting in there for no reason, and when they entered, she found out something about her place in the last row. There were another two boys sitting with Ruka. She recognized the familiar careless look. The other one was wearing a Black Cat mask, as she was unable to see his face.

"I've arranged your place on the other side," Tobita came to her with a solution due to the situation, and there was another two girls behind him. Rei had seen them before in the classroom, though they did nothing more than looked at her once or twice.

"I'm Mikan!" The brown haired girl who had a very cheerful voice interrupted their talk. "Hi," that was all Rei said. "This is my friend, Hotaru," Mikan introduced the other girl. She had short Black hair. "Nice to meet you," being a quiet person, Rei tried not to act like the majority.

"Welcome to our class," that girl had a dreamy voice, which was too calm and cold. Mikan said so many things within a few minutes in their little conversation. Rei did not understand many of them, and so Hotaru. They kept their silence because they used to love the way Mikan talked like a kid, almost like a little baby.

They were standing in front of the class entrance. Rei saw Misaki was coming towards her with his friends included Ruka, Narumi, and the Cat masked boy, and she noticed both the new boys as the special-star students.

This time, Misaki signed her to say 'to be calm,' while closing both his eyes. Rei took a while to understand what it meant.

"If you want to know something, you can ask now," Ruka stopped in front of her. "Thank you, everything is fine," Rei answered him after managing to blink. It was the first time she talked with this guy, he almost acted as a dumb.

"Keep your things with you. I'm done with your silly partnership," Ruka was sharper than she expected, and Rei found her fingers digging into her palm. There was a moment of silence before she handled her anger by the name of Misaki. "Get lost!" She muttered still staring at the Cat mask.

"Excuse me?" Ruka was about to go, but he took a step back by the thing that he heard.

"Yeah, I don't like it at all," something popped out. Rei tried hard to conceal her anger from everyone. Misaki felt desperate with it, and he did not forget to glance at her one last time before he walked out of his friends.

Time passed so quickly. It brought to the last few hours of the school time. Narumi had been laying on a tree branch for fifteen minutes. The cold wind of spring closed his eyes while giving him a peaceful sleep, however a strange noise broke his trance in the same moment. 'Oh, my brilliant girl,' after seeing Rei who was reading a book under the tree, he thought like that.

(fangirls of the school)

"Look, there he is. Guys, hurry up. We can't be late, hurry up before the juniors come,"

"What are you talking about? He's all ours,"

"Not ours, only mine. Just stay away from him,"

"Stop your drama. Don't you want to talk to him? He's about to go, hurry up,"

"Senpai… Wait…"

Rei raised her head with the things like that. Her eyes caught the huge crowd of fangirls who was shouting on the road. 'Why do I feel like that they're coming towards me or-' she said to herself for the sake of her own peace. Rei was determined to go away from those girls, having so many problems other than that, whether they had good intentions or not.

"YOU'RE MINE…!" All of them screamed together. There were more than twenty girls which included her classmates.

'-yes they are,' it caused Rei to stand up unknowingly.

"NARUMI... WE LOVE YOU…!" She heard something unexpected. 'What the… I'm not looking like a man but wait… Am I?' Suddenly Rei looked at her figure, and then took a long breath to calm herself, though she was unable to handle her smile for her own silly thoughts somewhat reminded Misaki's words - anything is possible with the Alice people, so she would better be careful about her gender as well.

"Ah, girls…" Rei heard Narumi as if she was in a dream. 'Where were you?' She asked herself without knowing his desire to take the revenge from her, and then she turned her head with a view of looking at his face.

Holding his neck from behind, Narumi bent his head left and right while coming near her. His look was appealing to her eyes, so there was nothing to surprise about his fangirls, but the worst doubt endured there inside of her mind. Rei felt uncomfortable at the moment when their eyes met each other.

"Stop-" All of them started to scream again with his voice. They did not even let him finish, and it could be able to pull Rei back to reality. She muttered to herself cursing for their wild nature, as took her book before she walked away from them as soon as possible.

Narumi had a reason to get confused about Rei that she never thought. 'What's wrong with me? My Alice didn't affect on her,' she walked away from him, yet she was in his mind with a tremendous confusion.

Rei also had another reason to get confused about him. 'What's wrong with me? My distrust is always affecting on him, this's the second time for today,' she was unable to forget the notable difference between his beauty mark and his evil mark.

The days of the great spring were fading away from them. Some teachers were using to teach outside because of the lovely climate. Those thousands of Sakura blossoms could bring the feelings of Heaven, even though there was another place where there had beauty that could defeat Heaven. 'The greenhouse,' it was something more than a herbarium.

"What are you doing?" Rei saw Misaki was claiming flowerpots in his block. She kept her bag inside of the cupboard, and went to him.

"Just started my project, what about yours?" Having so many pots around everywhere, he tried to move them away from him without a space to walk. Then he whipped off the mud on his hands while talking to her.

"I should choose something like Cinnamon, still don't have a clear idea about this project," she looked away from the glass wall through her talk. Misaki felt something wrong with her, though he did not know whether it was Ruka or another thing.

"Is that the Chinese one?" He asked back, obstructing her thoughts. He knew that if it was 'Cassia,' it would not be a good choice for the project. "No, ah it's the Ceylon one. Throw it away, can I call you Mi-"

"It's Michio," he cut her off. There were only a few people who allowed calling him like that, especially three of his friends.

"-alright Michio, what's your expectation of doing this project?" Rei sat next to the cupboard. "I need some money for my work, I'm trying to get a sponsor, what's yours?" He started to claim the pots again, in addition to talking with her.

"Nothing, but… If I get a star, I can avoid the MSP, sometimes…" Rei took a short and unwanted breath after answering him.

"The MSP?" Misaki tried to remember the thing she said, immobilizing for a second. He looked at her face, although she was drowning inside of her own thoughts.

"He wants me to be there, I can't do anything for my relief with this star rank," she explained very patiently to her friend before turned her head to look at him for a while, and again she went silence.

"Why's that? Mikan was also a non-star student at the beginning, she never had a problem like that," Misaki wanted to know more. He was looking at her for further information, having a look of a mess.

A few seconds passed away from them without breaking the deep sleep of the light breeze, and then he sat next to her instead of expecting some answer. He wondered about his friend. She was definitely out of the ordinary people who were living around him.

"I don't know. To tell you the truth, I'm afraid of seeing him day and night. I wish if I've never met him, but look what I've got…" Rei's voice came out as a whisper.

"Listen Rei, you have to stand against your fear before it stands against you. Dare to look back, if you ever afraid again. There's always a friend behind you," he acted very dearly in front of her. The Academy named Misaki as a cold person like the same way as his friends, though he knew how to deal with an innocent heart.

"Thank you," Rei accepted what he said, giving him a satisfied look, and he noticed the smile in her eyes. He did not even get a chance to see her smiling in all those times until this moment.

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Thank you for reading.


	4. 3

**CHAPTER III**

Rei and Misaki started to claim the flowerpots, arranging them as a line, after the comforting words. It took a few hours, as they worked until evening. They had only two days left to the examination.

Time flowed slowly. Misaki and his friends were lying on the hostel roof, when the moonlight embraced the Academy's earth. The middle division's gang had their own way of dealing with others. They had to grow up with the help of the each other and no one else, neither teachers nor families, so they had a bond deeper than friendship.

"I heard that," the Cat masked boy named Natsume, raised his voice after a long time of silence. He was able to handle the students around him having the Alice of Fire. Sometimes the teachers also had to toe the line, but he never tried to do that with his friends.

"Heard what?" Misaki asked, staring at the sky. He found a feeling with a bad sign in a corner of his mind, and he did not want to hear about Rei from Natsume.

"I'm willing to see the end of your friendship with her," it was Ruka. He came into the conversation as he made it clear. He was charming like his ability - the Animal pheromone Alice, only until he gets angry. There was no one who knew that side other than the three guys, so he became the loved one in the entire Academy.

"It'll take some time," Misaki smirked, remembering the thing she muttered at the classroom. 'Get lost,' it was all that she said to make his friend that mad.

"Does she have the Nullification Alice?" Narumi's emotionless voice echoed around the space.

"Don't say yes," Natsume got a desperate feeling by Narumi's question, and looked at Misaki with the other two. His girlfriend had the Nullification Alice, as he did not want another one who can go ahead of him. "Maybe," Misaki did not even know about Rei's hidden abilities to answer them.

"Is she alright?" Natsume asked back.

"For what?" Narumi interrupted again. It was not only because of the greenhouse incident, but also he was curious about her quiet behavior, unfortunately every time it ended up with his anger.

"I'm fed up, that idiot is always talking about her," Natsume meant about his girlfriend 'Mikan' by saying 'idiot.' "I think so…" Misaki answered weirdly.

"You're getting close to her," Ruka said his viewpoint with a smirk. "Thank you for reminding," Misaki said shortly, not completely controlling his anger. He was annoyed by this topic since the beginning. He did not want to hear rubbish about Rei after knowing her problem, and he was glad. They did not say anything.

"What happened to you next time?" Ruka did not mean anything other than what he said, so he asked him in surprise. "It's nothing, just wanna sleep. Good night!" Misaki said, and went away without giving them a chance to talk more.

"This's the first time I'm seeing him like this," Narumi smirked alone, but it was powerful enough to take Natsume's attention because she was not the first girl they met at the Academy.

"We'll see…" Natsume got an evil grin, though Misaki was not there to understand what his friends were about to do to his new friend.

That four friends had to meet again, as the next morning Misaki, Ruka, Narumi, and Natsume were walking to the class through their fangirls. There was another huge fan crowd gathering in the corner of the corridor. They smirked at both Shiki and Rei before entering the classroom because all of them were from 'Shiki's fan Club.'

A few hours passed after the first period, it became Science lesson. "Excuse me, Sensei!" Everyone was concentrating on their lesson with Jinno until Rei disturbed them.

That was the first time they saw her after the morning time with Shiki. Jinno ordered her to sit without worrying to ask so much as the first time because it was turning into a common thing with Rei. "Meet me after school," she heard him again before he left the class, though she did not have a problem with his extra homework. Rei appreciated it as a gift that could build her skills, and Hotaru gave her old notes, knowing about her secret since she was no one, but the girlfriend of Misaki.

Their homeroom teacher, Makihira announced their examination at the interval. It was going to start after a day, and everyone had to complete their projects.

"I'm sorry," Rei entered the greenhouse with her apology, then walked to her block to get ready, and came back to the main hall where Misaki was working at that time along with his favorite plants.

"Miss Rei, could you please help me now? What are you thinking that you're doing? Where were you in last two days?" He had not had a composed mind to talk with her. "Leave it for now, I have to do this all night long," Rei wore her hand gloves quickly to start her work.

It was already evening. The both of them worked hard until dinner-time, and they went to the hostel to get it.

"I'm done with mine, now we have yours," Misaki said, in addition to cleaning his block, using an Alice stone of the elementary division's child. "I know," Rei walked to her block with a frown, while making him smile, then she started to put the soil into the small flowerpots, and she got his help after a few seconds.

Rei worked hard to finish her project until she saw Misaki who was sleeping in the middle of the pots. It was not the right place for sleeping with the mud and other things, though he was in the best part of his sleep.

"It's almost five, how can I do this alone?" She muttered, bothering whether she should call him or not, but she stopped worrying about the sleeping guy because he had already done much more than her.

"What happened? Are you mad? Why didn't you wake me up?"

It was seven in the morning, when Misaki came to her with a fussy look, and Rei got a smile after seeing the boy who had a look of a wet Cat, then he made her smile after everything.

"I've finished them all," she said to the surprised boy, making him surprised again. "Did you?" Misaki raised his eyebrow at her with the confusion about the thing he heard, but she said nothing.

The soft morning sunlight was there to embrace them, as the cold wind would make them feel sleepy. At the last minute, they heard the bell ring.

"NO…" Both of them said with the same tone after coming back to their senses. They had to be in the classroom before the fist bell.

"Let's go, Rei," Misaki said, running to the main door with her, even though they stopped to lock the greenhouse, then walk slowly to the hostel as if nothing had happened.

"Good morning!" Misaki gave a strange look to the girl who was standing in front of the hostel main entrance. "Ah, good morning!" Rei smirked at him while joining because she waited for him after finishing her chores.

Two of them walked to their class, keeping the silence. "Thank you," finally Misaki broke it in the classroom corridor. He was thankful to her for helping him finish his project, having some noble qualities.

"Do not consider it as a help, we worked together," Rei's little-loud voice came out without any disconcert because no one else was present other than that two. "Alright, now please stop shouting, will you?" He got a dramatic smile to make her mad, and he got her all kinds of evil looks within a few seconds.

"Excuse me Sensei!" Jinno raised his head by that very familiar female voice. He saw Rei and Misaki who looked like twins with their same aspect, were standing in front of the class entrance.

"I had to let you go if you're alone, but with Misaki? Just come here…" Jinno flew off the handle, and ordered her.

Everyone was staring at the scene with their feared eyes instead of talking with each other, then Rei was punished by his stick with the Lightning Alice. "You won't repeat it again," he said cruelly, using his Lightning Alice for more than three minutes until she fell on her knees. That kind of punishments was very rare with Jinno, and usually happened once or twice in a year.

"Look what you've done to yourself? You can repeat in spite of my order, but it'll be too late to turn back," Jinno said again, though she was not in a position to look at him or listen to him.

Rei had been biting the inside of her lip to bear that pain for the entire time. She never knew how the Lightning Alice works until he used it on her, and somehow she could be unable to get the strength to get up as she stayed calmly in the same position. The students were also unable to look at her face because her messy hair covered it.

Jinno signed, and told Misaki to take her to her seat, knowing her weak condition.

"Can you?" Holding both her shoulders from behind, Misaki whispered to her while trying to make her straight. Rei nodded at him, then tried her best to stand, and did with the help of his. They walked to the last row of the class through the looks of so many diffident students.

"Thank you!" Rei was not even able to raise her head, even though she was polite enough to thank him. That electric shock could make her suffer from sitting there, which was the only thing she could do at that time, all she wanted was sleep after the tiring day and night.

Jinno started to talk again after both Rei and Misaki sat down. There were not lectures at that time because they were in the examination days, although Jinno was in the class by the name of their bad luck.

"I'm saying again that you are the only non-star student in the middle division. If you fail the exam with your irresponsible behavior, you'll have to go back to your old school," he said roughly as everyone stared at her for his words. There were another three evil faces whose friend had to be humiliated because of her, and they were glaring at her as well, but Rei kept her silence, placing her head on the desk.

"Are you alright?" Yome asked her after Jinno left. Hotaru also came to her to know whether she was fine or not. Mikan and Tobita joined with her. Misaki too wanted to do the same, though he did not. Rei nodded them to say that she was okay, which was not that much true. She had suffered a lot because of those strange people, and there was not anyone to share her pain, even Misaki was not there for her. She tried not to fall with those uneasy feelings, the shocking pain, and the sleepy condition.

The spring brought a very different picture to the Academy with those beautiful flowers. Everyone finished their examination projects through the time as much as they could. It was a crucial part of the exam. It could change the star rank, which was what everyone wanted to happen.

"Misaki, what is Akeshiya's project?" Mikan asked him while going to the greenhouse. All of them were present with their class teacher Makihira, other than Rei. She thought of staying in the classroom with her bad condition.

"You'll see after we go there," Misaki said, and entered the greenhouse's main hall with the others.

Many of them were surprised by the fragrance that they smelt when they went in. Mikan, Hotaru, and Misaki's friends were also surprised by that smell, even their teacher was the same. The students were staying with Makihira, but Misaki's eyes were looking at the boys who were running around the greenhouse, and Narumi smirked at his friend's killing face for their own secret.

"Is this your project?"

Misaki came back to his senses by Makihira's voice. They were already in his block where there were thousands of purple colored Saffron flowers.

"Ah... This is... Rei's project-" he stammered a bit until he had managed to give him a straight answer.

"Good job," Makihira crossed his talk before he could say anything than that.

Misaki noticed Natsume and the other two were looking at him, they knew that he was lying, so he felt lazy to speak with their teacher, however no one did ask nothing about that.

"Where's yours?" Makihira asked again, as Misaki showed the way to the other half of the greenhouse. Everyone followed behind him to Rei's block that was completely covered with the emerald green Cinnamon leaves, which somewhat reminded Narumi's glance. Anyhow, Rei did not get a chance to see the final result of their hard effort since her health did not permit her, and taking advantage of that, Misaki did something wrong with their own projects.

It was almost the English period of the day. The students were sitting in the class with their teacher Serena. It became a very peaceful time until she asked Rei to go out of the class because of her sleepy eyes, instead of looking into the reason for her weak look.

Rei had the same life that Mikan used to spend at the beginning as a non-star student. Her bedroom located on the third floor of the hostel. She was the only one who was staying there along with those spider webs and dust.

The hostel simply had two sections. The left side had the girls' bedrooms and the right side had the boys'. Those two parts were separating by a long dining hall where it had the main kitchen and all the other things. Many of them usually ate there, although the special-star students and the three-star students were not there to eat most of the time. They refused to have their meals together with others because of no reason. The non-star students like Rei did not get the permission to eat with the rest, as she had to bring the meal to her bedroom.

That day, Rei refused to take her lunch and the dinner due to her piteous sickness. The first thing she did after school was sleep. No one was there to help her or look after her health, even the Robot who was working in the hostel, did not come to the third floor.

The moonlight was filtering into the room through the window. Rei was laying on the bed almost staying in ten' clock at the night, thinking about the past incidents, but her thoughts were disturbed by a strange knock. She went, and opened the door to see the person who had come to see her at that time.

"Ah, Shiki…" Her speechless desire asked him to come inside with a thin smile. He entered the room with a middle-sized cardboard box, then Rei followed behind him after locking the door.

"What happened so far?" Shiki asked while eating Chocolate. He came back to the Academy a few hours ago, having a very busy school life with his Barrier Alice.

There were also another few students who were leaving the Academy for missions of the middle division, though the students like Natsume or Narumi did not have so many missions the same way Shiki had, because they used to go out for long term work, unlike Shiki. He had to take care of every other thing all around the middle division's missions under the supervision of the MSP.

"Nothing much, tell me about your stuff," Rei sat on the chair near the table where the cardboard box was placed. She tried hard to hide her weak health without letting him know about the morning incident.

"I have to go back before morning to complete our last work. To tell you the truth, sometimes I don't feel myself as a student with these work. It's not like your beautiful classroom life with those friends, everything is dark and lifeless, you have no idea how I'm going through with this loneliness," his voice had a grave sign about her wealthy school life that she never had.

"I know, but that's not what you said," she gave him an emotional answer through her thoughts.

"What do you mean?" Shiki raised his eyebrow at her. He wanted to know everything, not only about her answer but also about every single thing that happened to her in past few days when he was not there.

Rei was annoyed by his talk about her friends, and she wanted to explain, even though she did not. "Forget it, I meant nothing. Just tell me, what's inside of this?" She looked at both his face and the box with a curious look before she walked near to that thing. "Some of my past notes, you can take a little help," he said carelessly while crunching another piece of Chocolate. Her nerveless hand made its way to the box, which was on the table, to open it.

* * *

Thank you for reading.


	5. 4

**CHAPTER IV**

Rei and Shiki were staying inside her non-star bedroom at that time, and she opened the box that Shiki had brought through her talk.

"Um…" She was afraid of seeing the thing, which was in the box because it was not what he meant as she walked backward from it, not having a sense about that.

"Don't you think me as your family? Am I that strange to you? Tell me Rei, I want to know. Is it true that I am like a stranger to you?" Holding both her shoulders from behind, he had to stop her from falling as his whispering voice asked her very slowly in an emotional manner.

"Shiki… I…" Her helpless eyes tried to look at his face turning her head, though she was unable to do that, neither turned her head nor looked at his face because his embrace did not give her a chance.

"Your opinions doesn't matter, I cannot turn back until I make your life complete. You came close to me Rei, yet you never tried to reduce this distance," he soothed her carefully without hurting again to her innocent heart.

"I'm sorry, I never wanted to complain about my life, but…" breaking their embrace, she looked at him to tell that thing. "I know. That is why your best friend can understand you even better than himself," he winked at her while taking the food packets out of the box. Then he asked her to sit to have their dinner together.

Not like the others, Shiki was a different person like Misaki and his friends. The girls' had dreams to be his girlfriend since he became another prince charming that they could ask in their lives, but they never got a chance with his disciplined mind. He was one of other special-star students of the middle division. Included Shiki, Natsume, and Narumi, there were few of them other than the high division and the elementary division. However, the three of them had the same qualities such as possessing sound knowledge, quiet personality, endurance, evil qualities and another few things, even though Shiki had something important - the blackmailing habit.

"Healing Alice is useless in front of Jinno Sensei's Alice. It will take a few hours to be normal, maybe in the morning," rubbing the hair of the sleeping girl, he said dearly about her painful sickness.

"I'm almost fine, you can go now," she tried to raise her head to talk with him, though he did not give her a chance to move, still sitting next to her. He was always using to be like that in front of her, even his parents never knew he had an attitude like that.

"Who told you to talk? Just sleep you annoying storyteller," using his hand, he closed her eyes forcefully, and she smiled before she turned her head to the other side for a peaceful sleep. "Good night Shiki," he heard her low voice as a whisper, and he continued rubbing her hair until she fell asleep, like the same way he used to do before in their childhood.

Rei's life had never been so lucky, she was almost a two-year kid when her parents who came to know about her rare Alice ability, left her alone in the temple of China while acting like the tourists. They went back to India without her, and the same time, Shiki had to come to hide in the temple of hills because the Academy members were after him by reason of his powerful Barrier Alice. Then Rei and Shiki were able to build up their bonded friendship in accordance with that situation.

After three years, he was taken to the Academy by his parents under the supervision of their relative Himemiya. Until he came back to the temple to take her to the Academy, Rei had been living there along with the Buddhist monks for ten years. The both of them had an incredible connection more than the friendship. Rei had not had such a special person who can replace Shiki's place. He had the same thing as hers, and he always worried about that girl who can make him feel better than everyone.

"Good night Rei," before he left her room, the silence was broken by those dear words. No one was there to listen to him other than the shining Moonlight of the spring.

Finally, the examination day became a reality. They had to face to the Language paper as the first subject which was teaching by Makihira. They had all got tired of writing that hard paper at the end of the long five hours.

"How is your examination?" Makihira came to the classroom. Everyone was sitting in there because it was the last period of the day. "Here, I have your project results, so please keep your other works aside and listen to me for a while," he kept his books on the table while taking a paper inside of his file. The all of them were staring at him to know their results. "Well, guys… First of all, I'm sorry to say that we have five students who did not get any single point," his eyes scanned the class through his talk.

"Saato is the first one of them. You know your machine stopped after five minutes, so you have to try again," Makihira looked at the boy who had the second type of the Invention Alice, was sitting next to Tobita and Hotaru.

"Jin, you are the second one. I'm sorry for your designer collection. We could not find any sponsor for that, and it will happen again unless you work hard," he said to the girl who had a velvet-brown hair.

"Cho... You have to be punished because you copied Hideyoshi's last year project. I'm ashamed to hear that. I have never expected something like that from my student. Do not let it happen again in my class. Akio and Rei, I'm sorry for you two guys," he said without bothering to look at them as he took another paper while leaving the students in a confused situation.

"What is wrong with this Academy? What is wrong with your project? We saw those Saffron plants. It was totally awesome," Yome asked Rei in surprise. They were sitting in the last row with Kitsu and Koko. Ruka and the others were also sitting on the left side of their row.

"What did you say?" She looked at him carefully to hear the thing that he said about her project.

"Yes, Rei, Sensei considered it as a good work. I think more than Misaki's one," she was right about her thoughts. He repeated the same thing.

"Misaki's one… Um, well. Did Misaki show those things to him?" She asked carelessly without showing any difference about that as he nodded to say 'yes.' "Forget it Yome, I don't know," Rei said, and he took a long breath before he turned his head to look at their teacher who had been giving marks to the students for a few minutes.

"-Yome 50, Sakura 55, Misaki 79, Nogi 85, Imai 87, Narumi 97, Hyuuga 97-" he said the last highest marks, and many of them started to talk through the teacher's voice.

"-oh, I forgot to tell you the most important thing. Akio, come here," again they all went silent by Makihira's pleasant voice because there was no happiness with the examination results.

"Congratulation child, you have got a certificate from the MSP Sir," Makihira said the good news as everyone looked at Akio who had the Music Alice with their surprised eyes.

"And Rei, you have to come too," he said again while searching something inside his file. Then he took an envelope from it. Rei raised her head with in surprise after hearing her name in a different way, and she walked towards him.

"Now on you are a two-star student. Welcome to the Alice Academy!" He placed those two golden stars on her palm with his kind voice. She did not have anything to say more than giving him a strange look because she got one another problem.

"Two stars at once... For the first exam project…" Many of them said the same thing without a few students included Yome. He smiled happily at her new achievement.

'Are you happy now?' Rei thought alone like that after seeing Misaki who had a thin smile on the lips. Anyhow, his smile could remind her a hall full of purple colored flowers, which had a romantic aroma.

Rei counted her fingers to hear the last bell. The after school time, she went to the teacher's restroom as soon as possible, but she was careful to go alone without so many people.

"Sensei, can I talk to you?" Makihira raised his head by her voice, and he signed her to come inside through the confusion of her sudden arrival.

"The thing is I don't want these stars. These are not mine, so I want to give them back," still curling in her hand, she put those small stars onto his table.

"You don't want them, why is that?" He recognized her as a different person since the beginning, but that time he was staring at her without having an idea about that decision.

"It was Misaki's project. I want you to cut my marks," Rei summarized the whole story as a very simple thing.

"I see… I will try to do something. You can go now," he was not able to understand it clearly, but he got the main idea about their friendship. "Thank you!" She was already walking ahead of the table with her quiet soul.

"Wait child… Bring this along with you," he said before she could leave the staff room, and she saw the golden star which was on his palm. "But Sensei..." Rei came near the table to make him realize about his wrong deed because she felt it as an illegal thing in according to the situation, especially with her marks.

"Everyone sacrifice their lives to get a star. No one sacrifices their two stars for a friend. I can't give you more than one, so today on, you are a one-star student," Makihira smiled while saying that to her. He could not find any kind of emotion on her face as it could make him smile again after reminding Misaki's cold look.

"Thank you then," Rei answered calmly while taking the star.

"He is lucky to have a friend like you. Good luck for both of you!" through his talking, he suddenly confused about the mode of their connection, but he was no more supposed to ask it from her as the teacher.

Rei left the restroom with his warm wishes. She did not forget to meet Hotaru to give her notes before she went to the greenhouse. She had wondered about Misaki and his deeds on the way to her block. She heard voices of the four guys from the main block after reaching there. Rei had to walk in front of that place to go to her side, though she felt something wrong, but she made her mind to go there and passed the door without taking their attention like a dead person.

"HEY YOU... WAIT!" Ruka, Narumi, and Natsume were frightened by Misaki's unusual high tone. Rei frightened by his strange behavior as well.

"What is this?" Coming very fast to her, he pulled her hand and turned to him like a demon. Rei managed to hide her scary feelings in front of them with a hard effort.

"The contract of your new sponsor," Rei looked at the letter that Makihira sent to him after her explanation. "Why did you do that?" He was burning with anger. However, she was unable to understand whether he was acting or not.

"Why did you do that?" She asked the same. The other three of them were looking at them, though they did not hear their conversation.

"It is my decision. Who told you to involve?" His careless words asked while dumping her hand disgustingly. It could make her mad. "That is how I decide my things," she did not want to look at anyone as she moved away from him to take her bag from the cupboard which was on her block.

"Huh, a one star," before she could pass him to go out of the greenhouse, he stopped her again, pulling her hand tightly the same way.

"Stop complaining," she wanted to end the conversation about her star-rank. "I don't have any interest," he dumped her hand, and then Rei stepped to the door side, but she kept one step back to the same place where Misaki was standing.

"Why are they looking at us?" she asked very slowly with a confused look.

"You can ask, in any case... Thank you, Rei!" He was thankful to her as usually. Misaki saw Ruka, Narumi, and Natsume were looking at them above she asked about them. "If you want to help me again, please let me know before you do something stupid, or else I will do the same," she said again, more like a secret. The both of them knew that their dramatic action was arousing the anger of the three guys, so they did not worry to stop making fun of them, especially Misaki was not that intolerant like them.

"Of course I will," Misaki replied like the same way. Then she left the greenhouse leaving them alone in that place after wishing him a 'good night.'

"What is going on between you two?" Still sitting on the short wall of the greenhouse restroom, Natsume asked carelessly after a few seconds. "Nothing much," Misaki smirked at them to make them mad again, and he started to make Coffee.

"It doesn't matter if you know her well," having a caring attitude, Ruka commented on it.

"I regret to tell you that I will take my revenge as soon as possible," Narumi said blankly without caring about anything like Ruka did. "Naru, leave her for now," Natsume was looking at the brown colored foam of his Coffee.

"I wish if I can do that as you say," Narumi's emotionless words replied as he made his way out of that place. Misaki wanted to stop him from harming that girl, and he looked at the other two faces, but they knew one thing - Narumi was the stiffest person that they had ever met.

Thinking about his friend, Misaki was standing near the window without talking. The other two were also staring at him expecting some answer to Narumi's cold-blooded stuff, although Misaki kept his silence as usually.

"If it is so, let's forget it Michio. That is to be saying," giving him a satisfied feeling, Ruka held his shoulder from behind. He was the second one who had a little bit similar qualities like Misaki had, and it caused to tight their friendship. "I know him well. Getting angry is normal. Rei never respected him, not even a fearful look," Misaki smiled alone while making a smirk on Natsume's lips.

"This is different. Shiki is not the type of person who associates useless people. In case if he gets with her, he will be the only one who goes to pieces," Natsume raised his voice after a little period of silence as the other two guys looked at him in surprise.

"Maybe…" Misaki whispered it in a serious way, knowing some different qualities of Rei. They had heard his low voice before they left the greenhouse to go back to the hostel.

The same time Rei was on the way to the hostel. She felt happy after remembering Misaki and his friends. It did not take long enough since they became friends, though he did something unexpected for her well-being.

"Senpai…" She came back to her normal senses by a childish male voice and turned to look at the elementary division's boy with a helpless feeling that she never wanted to get.

"Principal Sir asked you," there was no way to run away from those words. She felt her legs were going numb because she was afraid of going to his cabin at that evening time. The same thing she had to do.

"Rei," the both of them looked at the side where they heard another male voice. The vision of that person could bring peace to her mind.

"Shiki, where were you?" She asked about the last night while signing her head to the little one to say 'go.' "I told you that I had to go out, and you were in a deep sleep when I left your room, so I did not try to wake you up. It is not too long since I came back," he got an annoying look by her weak and careless memory. "I forgot that, are you alright?" She asked about his health to change the topic being caught with her deep feelings. She never knew why she could not tell everything to him like before. It caused him to look into her strange stuff on his own.

"Yeah, of course, I'm fine and… You have a star on your Jacket," his inner thinking appearance did not let him ask furthermore about her memory and the unknown thing that was bothering on her mind, though he asked about her new star. "I got two of them for a few minutes because of Misaki, so… I had to inform about that to change my star-rank," she explained to him with doubt about him. He usually knew her everything before she could tell him like the last day punishment.

"Sounds good, that means now you have a better friend than me. I knew this. It was about to happen," he said like a brat since she was the only one in his life that he could be silly with his childish soul. "Of course you are the worst," biting the inside of her lower lip, she said carelessly. Instantly her face went dark by something. It turned Shiki's head to look at the other side of the road.

"Do you come with us?" Natsume asked Shiki without looking at her face after coming very close to them. There was another one who followed Natsume's footsteps with his evil thoughts. "Yeah, let's go Rei," he looked at her without showing any difference, while making the other guys confused, and she never knew how he could understand her that much.

* * *

Thank you for reading.


	6. 5

**CHAPTER V**

Rei and Shiki slowly walked to the MSP's office room along with Natsume and Narumi. The three guys made their way into the room without her, and no one bothered to ask her to come inside.

"Natsume, what happened?" The MSP did not surprise to see them at that time. He asked Natsume, reading a magazine without worrying to raise his head.

"It's almost finished," Natsume's emotionless voice gave him a careless answer with a hint of anger because he used to hate that person who had an evil soul with a young look that was not true. Kuonji named the MSP had the Clone Alice, so he used it to get the same age look of a middle division's student.

"You must tell-" Kuonji's words stopped by the appearance of Rei who came into the office room after everyone. He raised his head to look at the door side with the other three boys.

"-I knew that you would come," Kuonji gave her a greedy look as if she was the most delicious food on earth, and then he came to the girl who was standing next to Shiki.

"I know!" Rei gave him a cold answer. She never wanted to talk with that man especially in front of Shiki, but now she had to do that.

"Long time no see, where did you disappear so suddenly?" He acted as if he was worrying about her too much more than everyone. Shiki felt that Kuonji was about to cry in front of her to get her sympathy at any cost, and that all the time Shiki was carving his fingers with his burning anger, only Narumi could able to see it.

"Call it as an hour," Rei said as she looked away from him since she felt disgusted about that pedophile. "It is too long and… You, how dare you waste my time? Huh?" He stopped in front of Narumi. It was all because of shame and jealous. Kuonji was mad at Rei's stubborn talk, and that man was always using to get jealous of the successful students who were in the Academy, included Narumi and the others.

"It was a mistake," the blonde answered carelessly, looking away from Kuonji, and being different from the others, Narumi did not have any kind of angry feeling about him, it was Rei that he was worrying.

"No any freaking mistakes, do you understand?" Kuonji shouted at him like a demon, but the boy seemed too calm as it made him restless. Kuonji was about to say more if a third person did not interrupt into them.

"Why don't you find someone in your age?" Rei's sharp words came out on behalf of Narumi. Kuonji turned his head in surprise to look at her, but Narumi stayed in the same position.

"Akeshiya," he got a smile. It seemed like a lie in comparison with the last few minutes.

"Let him go," she came near to Kuonji without caring about his shameless feelings still finding a way to manage the situation, but Narumi did not want her to interface to his problems, and did Shiki. He would have to pull her friend away from the room if he had a chance.

"Not today, he completely spoiled my mission," Kuonji glared at him while saying that to her with an eye to getting close to her more than before. The truth was he never had a time with her as he thought.

"I will do that again," she walked near to the window to avoid his greedy eyes instead of standing in front of him. "What? How can you do that with your Plant growing Alice? This is not some kind of child's play," he asked her before he sat down back on his chair, wondering about her connection with Narumi.

"At least you can understand, he is not standing there after a child's play," Rei got a smirk by her own answer and Natsume had the same on his lips, though Narumi and Shiki were not happy to hear that anything.

"You are worrying about this guy, why is that?" Kuonji raised his eyebrow at her. He became extremely angry for that slight reason, and he was unable to deal with his jealous.

"He is my fiancé," Rei shook her head desperately in a slow manner, getting tired of his unwanted questions, but Narumi had not had enough courage to forgive her, even though he wondered about the girl who called him like that in front of him for the first time in his life.

"Let's see then. Narumi, don't dare you let her go alone, and Shiki I'll let you know about your details before the night," he said the final decision about their missions. The three guys left that place after that, leaving Rei alone with Kuonji.

The purple colored sun was going away from the sight of the earth while whispering a 'good night' to the world. Natsume, Narumi, and Shiki were walking to the hostel as the strangers. They felt awkward about their Principal and Rei.

"How was she captured?" Natsume asked Shiki to know something more, and on the other hand, he wanted to confirm his thoughts about her strange behavior since his friend Narumi was about to take some kind of revenge from her.

"She was the only one non-star student in the middle division," Shiki was uncomfortable with that topic by the reason of his friendship with Rei. The all he wanted to do was kick at Kuonji's face. He was about to do that if he was not their principal, but he was mad at Rei by the thing that she did in a few while ago.

They did not talk anything after that, especially Narumi kept his silence since the beginning, and the other side, Rei had to take her dinner with Kuonji. Then she left the MSP's office room as fast as she could. No one was there to stop her from running as she disappeared in the middle of the darkness.

It was nearly midnight of that cold day. Everywhere was spread out with Cicadas' songs, conflating together with the Owls' voices. The moonlight was not enough to lighten that piece-cutting thick darkness. Rei and Narumi were looking at the huge gate that was on the other side of the road, staying among the brushwood.

"What happened last time?" After a long time, Rei asked him to ruin that silence. She had to go out with Narumi for the mission, yet he did not want to say any single word.

"Nothing!" his cold voice came out as a whisper. He did not have any interest to work together with the same person that he wanted to take revenge, but he had to.

"You can trust me," she looked at his face to get an answer without knowing his thoughts. Shiki did not even tell her anything about his evilness.

"I said-" he was about to kill her unless she stopped talking to him. That was how Narumi was, and that too became the reason for his obvious name 'The Death Angel.'

"I heard," Rei stopped him. That thing crossed the red line of her anger. She felt her as a fool who wanted to help some snaky person like him, not only that but also she felt that she had to listen to Misaki who asked her not to get on with him.

"-you can go back," she came back to reality by his emotionless voice. Rei looked at him again still trying hard to be patient in front of him like the same way she did in front of Ruka.

"How am I?" Rei gave him an innocent look. She did not care about his anger or anything which belonged to him, not even his name as well. "Why can't you use your Alice stones?" He raised his eyebrow at her, though she did not see that due to the darkness, and by the name of their mission, it caused to stop some creepy argument. "I don't have one," she said. He looked at her in surprise, in addition to the disguisedness.

"At least tell me, why did you want to come with me?" Narumi asked desperately without knowing how to deal with that strange girl. That was the first time he got into a trouble like that especially because of a girl, even Mikan could be unable to do like her.

"You came with me," that was her time to made fun of him, making him mad and helpless. In according to her knowledge, that could be the best method to defeat him in the first place.

"Fine-" he took a long breath to calm himself. "-then wait here until I come," he ordered her little roughly because of her stubbornness, and the next moment, he left her alone in the brushwood, while trying to forget the part of; 'by any chance if she follows behind me.'

"I will try," she muttered herself after he went from her sight, so he could be unable to get her answer about his order.

A few minutes passed very slowly. There was not any sign of him. Rei stayed there for a little while, looking repeatedly at her wristwatch and walking around in the little space before she followed the footsteps of Narumi.

The dark clouds had been covering the moon, leaving the forest along with the coldness. Everywhere had a look of a deadly nightmare. The lonely watchman stood up to look around the long wall that was covered the whole building complex. It was almost one in the morning, and there was not anyone other than him.

"Who is there?" He asked little loudly after realizing that he was wrong. Someone was standing in front of the road at that time. He did not get a clear image to understand whether it was a human or an animal.

"Is anybody there?" He asked again because he confirmed it as a shadow of a human. His mind forced him to open the gate and go near to the wall, and he did that after lighten up his torch. "Hands up, who are you?" He pointed his gun confusedly, coming near to the shadow which was on the right side of the road. His torch light was not enough to understand what it was, but the wall lights gave him a little help. "Who are... Oh, this worthless torch," he went cold with those everything which included the faded torch light, and he looked around expecting someone finally making the torch again, although no one was there to show their selves.

"I will resign from this freaking job," he suddenly came back to the main entrance, cursing to the whole world as he closed the gates without looking back.

The same time Rei was staying near the building, having a smirk about the fearful watchman. She climbed to a tree that was locating near the building, thinking a way to go inside. There were so many security cameras as it could make her confused about Narumi. There was no any single way to enter the building without being caught by the cameras.

She took a while to think something useful, and then she got into the A/C pipe on the second floor with the help of a tree branch, though she had not had another option than crawling through the small pipe. Rei stopped to take a long breath, getting tired after a few minutes.

"Take me to the main room," at that time, she heard Narumi's calm voice from somewhere near the pipeline. She crawled as fast as she could to find him. 'How does he know them?' She thought like that after seeing the boy who was talking with a man, and again he went from her sight, so she tried to find a way out of that pipeline.

Finally, the it drove her into a huge room. Rei was able to get out of that using a little window. That place seemed like a bedroom, even though the purple colored night-lights could not give her a chance to understand it clearly. She tried to search that room until she heard a strange thing like a moan or something similar to that.

"What?" Rei asked herself in a massive confusion, knowing she was not the only one who was in there. One or two people were laying on the bed as she slowly took a step back.

"Ah...!" Rei felt a sudden impinge from behind before her low voice came out.

"Who is in there?" The man who was sleeping on the bed woke up by her voice, and he turned the lights on. He was about to press the emergency alarm button.

"Oh Babe, don't worry. No one is here," stopping him from doing that, a girl that could be his girlfriend, said to him with a dazzling smile. "I heard something," he had walked near to the same wall that Rei used to hide beside, thought he could be unable to see her because his girl came to him as they entered into a passionate kiss. "If someone wants to steal, let them do that. They are not going to go out with their heads," she said, acting like a person who was dying by a gunshot while making a noise from her mouth. The man did not let her fall onto the ground.

"You are too much Diana," he took her onto his arms to take her back to the bed as the lights went off behind them.

"Ah!" Rei released her breath after everything because that was blocked by Narumi's hand, though still he did not let her move away from him. He had held her back turned hand tightly. "Leave my hand," her low voice said without giving an effort to do that since they were staying at the same place with that lovemaking couple.

"What are you thinking that you are doing? I told you to stay there," his evilness started to talk instead of releasing her hand. "I feel lazy and-"

"Just shut up!" He cut her off. "-and-" she started to explain again. "Shut up!" He did not want to hear another annoying thing from her. "-please-" she tried again. "I said shut up!" He felt pity for himself. "-listen, leave my-"

"Keep your mouth shut until I ask you to talk," finally, he threatened her to keep her mouth shut. Though he knew, there was no point of saying anything to her like the last time. Narumi did not want to make her hand numb as he released her to go away from him, but she was staying there for another few more minutes to decide a plan, and then the both of them left the room to go to the sixth floor where the office room was located.

Narumi used the main corridor to go there, making her surprised again. There were so many security cameras all around the building, but he did not even want to care about that. Rei followed behind him like an insane person, wondering about the senseless bodies of the security guards. He got a smirk after seeing her confused look because he did that all to stop her stubbornness.

"Hide," Narumi said suddenly, pushing her into a little room while closing the door. She took a minute to understand his foxy thoughts to avoid her, and she came out of the room to go to the office room since she was almost on the sixth floor.

"What the…" Before she could take a step ahead, she saw the boy who was running to her with a huge crowd of security guards through the alarm.

"Not again," Narumi whispered madly after noticing the girl who was standing in front of his way. There was no more revenge on his mind - the only thing that he wanted to do was to get rid of her.

"Come quickly... He is here," making him madder than before, she pointed him to the guards.

Narumi ran away from her sight, leaving her alone in there, and that all of them turned to the left side where he was running. "How do they suppose to be the guards? What about me?" She asked herself still thinking a place to go. At least she did not get a chance to go into the office room, so she went there to take the thing that they need to complete their mission.

"Then you are a master at these kinds of works, huh…" Rei thought like that after seeing the room which had a look of an asylum. There was nothing to take with his quick works.

The other side Narumi had to run away from all the guards of the building complex. They were running after him while shooting everywhere, though his favorite hoodie-cap did not let them a chance to see his face, but he stopped from running, staying in front of the main corridor of the second floor.

"Let's end this, guys," he turned back with an evil grin. That everyone had stopped unknowingly by his sudden change. They expected to catch some coward thief than that boy.

"Hands up," one guard said rudely in spite of his strange look. Another few of them had also been coming to him with the first guard.

"Here I did," Narumi said calmly before he ran to them in the same way as an arrow that had a firing whip. There was no one who could able to escape from that deadly weapon. He went out from their sight in the next moment.

"You are finished!" He did not get a chance to pass the last door of the corridor. The man who was sleeping in the room, laughed at him, standing there with his girlfriend and a few more guards, and the very last minute, Narumi had to face to a heavy rain of bullets.

* * *

Thank you for reading.


	7. 6

**CHAPTER VI**

Narumi was staying in the middle of his mission. He had not had enough time to run away from the bullets that he had to face at that moment. He closed his eyes very tightly to forget about everything before his death as the bullets of the weapons fly everywhere around him, and he felt a touch of his arm with those bothersome noises of the guns.

The firing had ended after a few minutes, yet Narumi did not feel anything painful, so he opened his eyes to know what had happened there.

"Eh," he went speechless by the thing he saw at that moment.

It was Rei. She was standing in front of him, holding his left arm tightly while trying to bear the pain with her closed eyes, even though she did not have any sign of a wound or anything, only the sweat dripped down her face. Narumi was staring at her heartbreaking face with a massive confusion about what she had done there, but one thing was clear to him, she just saved his life after putting herself into a risk. He did not want to believe it by his anger, even though he could not kick the truth.

"Didn't you die?" The man asked in surprise about the both of them after seeing they were still alive. He knew that there was no way to live after such a kind of bullet rain.

"Not yet!" Turning her head to look at them, Rei opened her eyes in a different manner, and then she took a step ahead as they dumped their guns because of the sudden heat they felt on their weapons.

Rei stopped in front of them, but no one recognized her by the reason of the exclusive black colored hoodie that the Academy had given to the students who went out for the missions.

"I met this one on the outside," the same watchman who was afraid of the darkness, muttered alone while gaining the attention of his master.

"If it is so…" The man's girlfriend interrupted before anyone could speak, walking backwards from the all of them. The man also followed her as they ran away from their guards. "Don't let it catch us, go, go, go, go…" The other guards too ran away from them without knowing what to do with that situation, and Rei took another step.

"You did enough," Narumi held her wrist tightly to say 'stop doing that.' Then he turned to go back. He knew it as an ability, but he was unable to recognize it clearly since it was not the Plant growing Alice that she had, and it seemed like she was cheating around everyone including his friend Misaki.

"Ah," Rei fell on her knees after she stopped using that Alice.

For a moment, Narumi had to throw his anger away from her by that thing. He looked at her once more, and then he kneeled next to her. Narumi held Rei's left arm to let her know that it was important to her to look at him, but she simply leaned on his shoulder without a word as she had panted repeatedly. He barely caught his breath with her strange fragrance that he felt when she was leaning on him. It aroused the sadness that he buried a long time ago, and he closed his eyes tightly before he used his Teleportation Alice stone to come back to the north woods.

He did not try to hold her or push her away from him, practically he did nothing until she got her strength to move from him, and stand up. Then the both of them walked to the hostel to sleep at least an hour, but they did not talk, not even a single glance, though he had a question that he wanted to take an answer from her.

After a few hours, Rei was changing her clothes to go to her class. She had to wear a blue skirt to their dark green Jacket being a middle division's student, and she had worn a black jean in addition to her skirt. It was not necessary for everyone like Mikan, but another few girls were using to wear it.

Rei heard someone knocking on her door through the time. She did not surprise about the person who came to the third floor to meet her early in the morning. The same non-star room allocated for her in reference to her new star rank because she refused to change that peaceful place, so she had lived there like the same way as she did before.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Rei got a flint and angry question like that when the time she opened the door. "Oh. Ohh," she suddenly closed it with an unexpected look, but she heard it again, knocking on her door.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?" The second time it turned into another question, and she was also careful to do the same. Then it knocked again for the third time.

"May I come in?" There was a gorgeous boy. He asked calmly, hiding his anger by biting the inside of his lips as she asked him to come.

"WHY?" The both of them did not try to ask the same thing at the same time until she closed the door.

"You can go first," Rei signed her hand and went near to the table to arrange her school bag, though she had to get ready and that one had too.

"Why did you do that stupid thing? Who asked you to interface to his problems?" He turned her to him to take her attention on his talk after coming very fast to her.

"You will not be wrong, ever and I'm also right this time. What is the big deal? I'm fed up with this worthless life, do you know that?" She got an irritating look by his hand. It was not only his hand but everything. Those few boys did that with her again and again, and she used to hate it. First Misaki, then Narumi and that time it was he.

"Why cannot you understand after looking at the others? Rei, what will happen if they find out? No, nothing to find, take a look- (reading a newspaper headline) -The new felon of Tokyo!-" He gave her an evil look before he pointed another few lines of the article. "-this must be the same person named 'The Shadow' who owns the newborn legend in Hong Kong-" he was about to throw the paper at her face, but he stopped himself from doing that.

"Look… I have become famous within one night. I nixed that everything, Shiki. No more games, I will show them my reality or else I will go back. Just now I don't care about anything," before she tears the paper into the shreds, she grabbed it from his hand with her careless words.

"At least look at me… This is not a gift as you think. This place is consuming our lives. Fine, I will not say anything to you again. Do as you want, it is up to you," he had to go back from her room unless her hand did not let him.

"Did I ever ask you to say something to me?" Rei asked calmly.

"I'm worried about you. That is why I'm insulting in front of you like this," he answered still looking at the door, having his true feeling for his best friend.

"Shut up Shiki! You are not insulting here. Stop talking nonsense for the sake of your anger. They were about to kill him, or else I would never do that. I'm not lying, you know that, so if he asks me some day, I will tell him about the bracelet. I think it was the Fire Alice, no I don't remember…" Standing behind him, she leaned her head on his shoulder while making his misunderstood mind.

"I expected to see a war, but now there is love on the war place," his smirking voice said without moving away from her.

"I will show you that everything happened on my first mission night when I get a chance, until then you should keep your mouth shut," she got an annoying look by his funny voice, so she walked near to the bed.

"Ah really, I'm not afraid of you," he took the Teddy bear which was on the table through his gentleman talk, but she was too late to go away from his Bear attack as he hit her every single way that he could. "Of course," somehow she took a pillow and followed behind Shiki who was two times faster than her, to hit. At the last minute, he had to face to an awful attack from her.

"Akeshiya... What is that noise coming from your room?" Suddenly they went silent by the Robot's voice because if they forgot the fact, they could make a sound that loud enough to hear to the ground floor.

"Ah, nothing I'm sorry..." Rei said still kneeling on the bed.

Shiki was looking at her face for another terrific attack as he gave it with a huge sound of bursting. "Oh…" He smiled madly at the girl who covered with the feathers. The feathers suffused everywhere which included her hair, face, and his hair as well.

"Look what have you done, are you happy now?" Rei wiped her head madly, asking with an angry voice. "Not yet Babes," as he said cutely, Shiki hit her hard from the other pillow until it burst like the first one, and she pushed off his head in a playful manner while smiling.

"AKESHIYA…!" They could not help their selves with the angry voice of the Robot, as they laughed madly through the feathers. Especially he was unable to stop himself from pulling her hair like the same little brat once he used to be.

The childhood friends were smiling brightly, looking at each others' faces for no reason. Shiki had not had any beautiful morning like that in all those years of his Academy life, so he was careful to enjoy the time as much as he could. Rei did not talk much because she felt it as a dream - the dream that she always wanted to be with Shiki.

Everywhere seemed like a painting with that golden shade of the morning sunlight. Rei and Shiki were walking slowly to the class through the middle of the thousands of Cherry blossoms. The bell had rung, and they were already late to the class because the both of them spent their time to clean her bedroom.

"Hey, you look like a chicken, wasn't there a mirror in your room?" Rei took off some feathers which were in his hair and uniform with a smile. He had a bit long hair, but a little less than Narumi's.

Another few evil faces whose Prince Charming had been touched were cursing Rei so badly, standing right next to the class-A. If she had had any idea about them, she would never think to touch Shiki's shining silky hair in front of those girls, as always she did not have any interest to be a hated one.

"Excuse me Sensei!" Rei asked as usually, thought that time she was standing in front of the home science lab. It was Fukutan, and not her most favorite Jinno after all.

"Oh, that is good. Come here quickly. We have looked for another partner to continue this activity. Hurry up girl, go join with him," their Home Science teacher said, pointing the boy who was cutting vegetable without having any other option than doing that.

"Natsume, may I?" Rei asked him, making her way near to the last table of the second row.

"Hm," he moved away from her after giving her space to do that. It could make her confused because it was Natsume after all, and not Yome.

That time she noticed Mikan who was glaring at him. Rei took the knife, cut it all, and put them into a pan within a few seconds while making Natsume surprised, but her smirk always on her lips by reason of Mikan's controlling glance.

"Today we are making Buz******. Now we have to add other ingredients," they heard Fukutan's voice again.

"Burzuz... What?" Rei was stuck in the middle of the meal's name. "Never mind," and she heard Natsume's respond again as they followed Fukutan's steps until they felt the smell of gas. The both of them turned their heads to look back, and they noticed the leak on their gas pipe.

"EVERYONE... GET OUT OF HERE...!"

Instantly their voice came out with the sign of danger. There was not any flame in the lab, or else it would be worse. However, everyone tried to get out without asking back because it was Natsume's shouting voice - one of the quietest students of the Academy.

"What are you doing?" Rei came back to the boy who was staring at the pipe.

"Go!" Natsume was trying to use his Alice on that. "You cannot do it. Just go," Rei tried to take him away from the hall, knowing the dangerous fact of handling it alone, and no one was present there at that moment. "GO...!" He shouted at her like a monster with his terrible voice, showing there was no different between him and his friends.

"No way," as she said carelessly, Natsume pushed her onto the ground before he released all the fire flames. "Irritating Idiot," and she heard his voice for one last time before it happened.

The same time the lab hall exploded into the ashes, but no one got hurt because they all stayed away from the building, even though everyone was afraid without having a sign of their guardians, Natsume and Rei. They kept searching for them everywhere around the ruins of the home science lab, even the MSP was also got a fussy mind after hearing the news.

"Did we die?" Rei slowly opened her eyes with her question. The first thing she saw was Natsume's bright crimson eyes that were looking at her with some kind of perverted grin, near her eyes.

"We are in heaven," he smirked still looking at her confused face. "I have never thought that heaven has the pink walls," she got a disgusting voice, and he nodded carefully to accept what she said.

"Ah, Natsume… Let me," she reminded something to the boy who was still laying on her body. Natsume raised his eyebrow as he paused for a moment to understand everything included her smiling dark-brown eyes before he moved away from her.

"Pink walls," he gave her Sumire's photo that placed on the table. "If we are alive, we have to go now," wiping off the dust on her uniform, Rei shook her head for their idiotic conversation about heaven, as they were rush to the place where the home science lab was. They came to Sumire's room because of Natsume's Teleportation Alice stone. It was not a special thing to have such kind of stones because many of them had different types of extra Alice stones for their works, even Misaki had many of them.

Things turned back to normal in Rei's life after the lab incident. She had to go out of the Academy for another few more missions when the day by day passed, but she had to do that alone, and finally something had come up to her. It was two hours after the interval. Rei was sitting inside of the middle division's class-B with the other students. There was not a teacher at that time as everyone enjoyed their time in their own ways, only the students like Hotaru were doing their studies.

"Rei," she turned her head with Yome to look at the person who called her name, having a good friendship inside the classroom.

"Yes Koko," she asked calmly without knowing about his question. "Where are you going frequently?" He asked the thing as everyone went silence within a second. There were so many who had the same hesitation about her sudden disappearance.

"Why?" Rei asked back, hiding the fright inside of her words. "I cannot read your mind. I'm serious Rei. I cannot do that, even after tried so many times," Koko's face had a sign of sadness. The confused students were staring at them to know more about her and her secret works.

Rei and Yome looked at each other's faces for his words and Yome tried hard to stop laughing at him. "Then why don't you want to try again?" Rei asked again, and Yome was looking at Koko with a smile. It was the funniest question that she had ever heard inside of the Academy. She also did her best to avoid her laugh. "But-"

"Koko, don't worry, you will never find any solution for this stupid problem," Yome crossed his talk with an unusual angry voice. It was not as if Yome knew her problems, but he felt her awkwardness, and he did not care whether if she was a good one or a bad one. There were friends.

"Akeshiya…!" They all turned their heads again by that female voice included Natsume and Ruka. "Oh Mikan," Rei looked at the wall clock before she answered to her. Then she took a yellow colored envelope and walked out of the class with Mikan, making all of them confused about everything.

There was another person who had the same problem as Koko's, though no one ever understood about that one who called as 'The Death Angel' without his friend named 'The Black Cat' or else Natsume Hyuuga because he was aware of the Rei's mission with Narumi. Natsume was told about the strange things that she did in front of his friend, but none of them did not want to share it with a third person for some reason – some undefined reason.

* * *

Thank you for reading.


	8. 7

**CHAPTER VII**

It became the weekend Health Science period of the middle division's students. They were gathering in the playground, wearing their blue pants and white T-shirts.

"I will be back with Hotaru," Rei said to Mikan who had a stunning look with her shorts, but Rei and Hotaru were always using to wear long pants that were different from Mikan's because sometimes the Academy did not give them a comfortable background to stay as they wanted.

"Alright," Mikan smiled at her friend and Rei walked back to the stadium.

"She is coming," a girl who was in the middle of the playground, winked her eye at her friend, and the next moment, the both of them pushed Rei onto the ground. There were so many students around there, though it seemed like that they did not care about anyone included their teacher who was talking to another few teachers, inside the stadium.

"Sorry…!" The girls asked her forgiveness after doing that on purpose.

"It is fine," Rei tried to get up while holding her water bottle, knowing something wrong with those girls, but that time she got a foot stroke of one of the girls. It caused her to fall again.

"Is that hurt?" They laughed at her sick face and then started to make fun of her. They pushed Rei back to the ground when she tried to get up. At that time, another few girls joined together as they kept hitting her face for some unknown reason. Many of them did not notice the deeds of the girls because of the games practice, but a few boys of the class-B, watching at those things, sitting in the upper corner of the stadium.

"Akeshiya…!" They heard Mikan. She was running to them with Hotaru.

"Look at her Mikan. It is almost bleeding," five of them helped Rei to get up after their arrival. They giggled as Mikan noticed the thing on their faces.

"Iriana, stay away from her, you witch!" Mikan said angrily to the leader of that girl's gang. That girl named Iriana was a classmate of Shiki, and the other hand, she would die to have Shiki, somehow or another. She was one of the craziest fan girls of the Academy. That thing made her one of the enemies of Rei's life as well.

"Mikan, I'm not the witch here," Iriana raised her voice before Rei, Mikan, and Hotaru walked back to the stadium. All she wanted to stop them from going back because she had planned to do this thing since a long time ago.

"Mind your work," Mikan glared at her. She was worrying too much about those kinds of things as a sensitive person and everyone knew that. Iriana wanted to take advantage of her same weakness. "How am I? I'm your friend. It is my duty to tell you that your new friend is flattering with your boy Nat-"

"No…! You are not a friend of mine, just enough!" Mikan cut her off and walked as fast as she could without Rei or Hotaru.

"Look what you have done to your friend, you are the only reason for her problems. How could you think of getting close to Natsume? Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" before they followed behind Mikan, they heard Iriana's voice again.

"Let's go," Hotaru stopped Rei from arguing with the girls as she crossed their fingers together to say to 'be calm,' for a second before they heard a thing like - "does Shiki know that you are toying with Natsume?"

Rei took a short breath after hearing those shameless words. She never wanted to handle her anger like that, and she did only because of Hotaru, but when she noticed her released fingers, Hotaru gave her a satisfied look with a hint of approval to do whatever Rei wanted.

"Hit me if you want, leave them alone," Rei was almost standing in front of Iriana by the name of her anger. Her both hands were tightly holding Iriana's shirt collar, and the girls around them were looking at them without interrupting to their talk.

"This is the right way to deal with you," Iriana whispered to her ear in a sensual way, and then she pushed Rei away from her as she went with her friends.

Rei was looking at their way until they went out of her sight. She wanted to run away from the thing she heard, especially in front of her friend. Rei looked back one last time at Hotaru. The both of them were looking at each other, another few seconds, and then Rei walked away from her.

There were not any tears in Rei's eyes, and Hotaru saw how it became dull day by day. They had glittered when the first day Hotaru met her with Mikan, and Yuu. Hotaru wanted to stay by her side because she also had the same time inside the Academy walls, but there was no any way that she could do that. They were strangers as Hotaru decided to let her stay alone.

Shiki was not there to see anything as always, but the others heard everything on the conversation of the girls, and Natsume felt like to burn five of them to the ashes. He had barely handled his anger by name of his friends Misaki and Ruka, though Narumi did say nothing. There was another thing on his mind. He did not care about anything as he was sure to burn them all if he had the Fire Alice by any chance.

It was about nine-thirty in the night. Rei was standing in front of the main hall door. She stopped for a minute after seeing Hotaru who was coming to her. They did not talk after everything happened in a few hours ago as the both girls opened the huge door to enter the hall.

There was not enough light to defeat the darkness, but the only bulb had an enough faded-light to understand the person who was sitting in the front row of the hall. Rei and Hotaru stepped ahead to the middle of the stairs to talk to that one.

"Akeshiya..." they heard Mikan.

"Why did you ask us to come at this hour?" Hotaru asked her madly because she worried about her time, having so many works to do according to her Innovation Alice. "Isn't that you who want me to come here?" Mikan came to them, among the seats with a surprised look. "Let's go, Mikan," Hotaru said as she nodded at Rei while walking back to the door still holding Mikan's hand. They felt it as an absurd with Mikan's answer.

"Hello, ladies…! Why so early?" A male voice came from the side where the stage was.

The three of them turned their heads, and they saw four boys were standing there. Rei got an awkward face after seeing them. The both Rei and Hotaru could understand it as a sign of a future trouble, but there was something more than they imagined – the boys. Someone switched on a light at that time, as they had to be surprised about the boys who were standing all around the hall, and the three of them did not take long enough to understand the danger that they were in.

"What are you doing?" Hotaru asked the boy who tried to take Mikan away from her.

"Don't worry Imai. We are not going to hurt your friend," the one who was standing on the stage explained weirdly. He knew Hotaru because he was a classmate of her brother Subaru Imai, but it was the first time she saw that boy.

"Let me-" Mikan cried weakly after they grabbed her away from Hotaru. She could not get a chance to ask for the help of her friends since one boy plastered her mouth, and tie her to a chair near the stage.

"What do you want?" Rei asked still looking at Mikan, but they laughed at her instead of answering to her. Hotaru crossed their fingers together like the same way as she did at the stadium, and she pulled Rei closer to her, even though they were unable to find a way out with those high division boys.

"Have ten," Hotaru whispered to Rei, and her surprised friend looked at her with an unexpected feeling. There was no way that they can stand against the boys, but Rei understood what her friend was about to do as she took a long breath in addition to her understanding look.

"What are you talking?" the boy who was standing on the stage, came near to them with his friends. "Who told you to do this?" Rei asked back because she was facing him. "We are not here to talk my Sweetheart," he closed his face to her with a sensual smile, and then he give a forceful effort to kiss her lips, but his voice came out by Rei's hard foot stroke. Hotaru dragged him down, taking advantage of that, and the same time, Rei helped her to fight against the other few boys who were with him.

The outside coldness could bring a nervous feeling of spring, though some of them were using to love it. They ran into the fragrance of the Sakura blossoms, like the same way as Misaki and his friends did. They had been laying on the rooftop for two hours without caring about the cold wind.

"Why did she want to meet Polka?"

Natsume brought a new topic to their conversation. He was also there with his friends. "It was Mikan. I was there when the messenger came. She wanted to meet both of them," Misaki said still staring at the sky.

"Both-" Natsume was curious about the thing that he could not understand clearly. "-I should check it on my own," he stood up and left the rooftop as fast as he could, and for some reason, the other three of them followed behind him.

The other hand, Hotaru had a tough time against the boys. She did not have any extra equipment as she had to face them with her bare hands, but they felt hard to stand against with her fighting skills. It was Hotaru Imai after all.

Rei used everything around her to defeat the boys being different from Hotaru. She did not dare to use her Alice against them because there was a promise that she had to take care by the name of Shiki. However through the fighting, one boy pulled her Jacket, but he had to get a sharp shot from her, and then he had thrown near to Hotaru for his bad luck.

Hotaru felt like her legs were going numb, middle of the all those things as she saw a boy who was playing the flute. He had an Alice that could make everyone weak with his music. Hotaru pushed the boy whom she was fighting against to the other, and the both boys fell down on each other, giving her some rest.

Rei had to run away from two guys because they had tried to strip her. They were trying hard to rip off her white shirt, and almost her Jacket was not on her body.

"What? How many clothes do you wear at once?" The boy screamed after breaking every button on her Shirt since she was wearing a black, long sleeve skinny T-shirt under the white shirt. She did not want to wear it often to go to her classes, but that time she was glad about that.

"Few more," she could not help her smile at that point, even if it was a hard situation, and then Rei escaped between both guys. She made her way near to the main door because there was not anyone at that time. They pulled her leg before she went out. Rei turned to him, and she hit him hardly using her whole strength until he fell onto the other one's body, but when she was turning back to run again, a strong male hand held her right wrist. His other hand held the throat of the boy who followed behind her. The both of them were stopped by that person's sudden action.

"It is Narumi…!"

Someone shouted through the darkness because Narumi was the one who stopped both Rei and the boy from running out of the hall. Natsume was also standing beside him, and Misaki finally entered with Ruka. They did not expect to see a thing like that. There was a look of a mess inside the main hall, and they noticed Hotaru who ran near to Mikan.

"Tell me everything," everyone heard Narumi's dreamy voice in the next moment.

"Iriana told us to do this. She asked us not to hurt Mikan. It was Imai and Rei. She told us to do anything to the new girl," he confessed weakly under the Human Pheromone Alice. The Alice that was owned by Narumi - the same thing that Rei did not know.

Rei had shocked about what she heard. She wanted to vanish from the sight of that everyone since it was the second time that she had to humiliate in front of her friends, but she was still held by Narumi. He looked at her emotionless face after hearing the confession of the boy, and then he released her hand, even though she did not move as she stayed there with her endless thoughts.

"Hotaru…" Mikan was unable to handle her tears. She hugged her best friend for taking some help.

One by one, the high division's boys came near the main entrance. Many of them had bleeding wounds because of Hotaru. Natsume looked around for the boy who tied up Mikan, but no one confessed it, knowing the evil side of Natsume Hyuuga.

"Do it," Misaki said to Ruka to use his temporary Barrier Alice on his friends.

"Confess your crime in front of the MSP. Do not mention any name of a girl," Narumi's voice could make the boys obey to his words for a few while, and then those ten boys left the hall without making any noise.

Mikan came near to Natsume with her tearing eyes. She had a pale look because of crying so long, and he said nothing until he embraced her tightly. "I'm sorry!" Mikan heard his painful whisper for the first time in her life. She felt his heart was beating fast, and that could make her feel so bad as well. Natsume never wished to make her cry like this, so he took all the blame for his reckless behavior.

"How are you?" Hotaru and Misaki came near to Rei, and they gave her uniform Jacket as she nodded at them before she took it without having a word, but suddenly Ruka signed at them to be silent.

"Kuonji!" Rei muttered to herself.

"We have to keep this as a secret," Misaki said for the relief of his friends. It was the best thing that they could do at that time, so everyone agreed with him.

That ten boys confessed their crime in front of the MSP without mentioning the names as Narumi told them to do. It could make Kuonji clueless for a moment, so he decided to look into the matter with a few teachers. They were coming to the main hall with the guards.

Hotaru looked around for an extra door to go out of the main hall, but Ruka ran middle of the seats as everyone followed his guideline. He stopped over the stairs and entered the room that was placed behind the stage. They reached to the first floor through the darkness. They were not able to hide there because it was the balcony auditorium of the hall and it was completely open to the ground floor.

Ruka did not want to waste another one more minute. He opened another old looking door that had hidden behind the curtains. There was a narrow staircase, as Misaki became the last one who entered there, closing the door behind him.

It was the clock tower of the Academy. It had enough space for those seven students who were looking for some place to hide, though there was something more than the glass walls and the roof – the cool wind of the midnight. It was the highest place on the Academy, so it felt harder to bear than the MSP. They looked at each other's face without having any other option.

Mikan was the only person who was sitting on that cold stone floor. The others were standing everywhere without talking. That night did not become a nightmare only because of Natsume, Ruka, Misaki, and Narumi.

"Take this," Rei gave her jacket to Hotaru. Her ripped clothes and the bruises on her hands caused to make Rei feel uncomfortable. Hotaru looked at her in surprise, and Rei rolled up her shirtsleeve to show her black T-shirt, even though they did not notice Misaki's caring eyes.

Natsume sat next to Mikan who was shivering by that acute cold wind. He wanted to let her lean her head on his shoulder. The problem was her misunderstanding mind, so he had to do it on his own, pulling her head forcefully, and it made the others smile.

"What is your plan for tomorrow night?" A question appeared in front of Rei, breaking the peace of that place.

"Ah," that person turned her to him, holding both her shoulders tightly before she turned back. "I'm fed up with this," he muttered roughly without getting any response from that shocked girl.

"Narumi!" Ruka tried to move him away from her. He would have to be successful unless it was not his stubborn friend, so Ruka released him without trying again.

"Is that all you can do?" Narumi shook her little hard to get any kind of answer to his question because he had his own reasons. "I…" Rei went speechless even knowing his point, but not the others except Natsume who had the same look as Narumi. Everyone was staring at them, having a confused mind about their vague conversation because it was not what they wanted from the both of their friends at that night.

* * *

Iriana - OC

Thank you for reading.


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